The Beginning Of The End
by Oakleaf girl
Summary: For seven years Percy has had to live with his abusive step father. When he moves to New York with his mother for a new start with a lot of help from his blonde haired grey eyed neighbor he didn't realise he would be facing new demons even worse than his previous ones. All mortals no demigods. Are you ready for this?
1. Chapter 1

First Step In New York

Looking back he often wondered where it all started, was it when he found out the truth for the first time? Or perhaps it was his bizarre meeting with the blonde haired grey eyed girl that he had come to care for so much. Lurking in his gut and waiting unbidden on his tongue he knew the real answer. Deep in his core he knew that everything started when he first arrived in New York. The city that never sleeps. The city that helped him discover his true identity and the city that turned him into what he was today: a monster.

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><p>The few moments he remembered vividly from his rapid departure from his previous residence was the stench of alcohol stinging his nose and even clearer he could smell the anger rising in his step father just waiting to be poured out and dished on the mother and son like the alcohol from one of his beer bottles. He remembered clutching tightly to his mothers waist as Gabriel shuffled his way towards them through the hurdles of litter scattered around his apartment. More importantly he also remembered the resounding smack that echoed across the room like a gun shot. Eyes wide in fury, breath heavy with liquor he showed the both of them the exit to his apartment all right.<p>

"Mummy?" He asked, uncertainty lacing his voice at the sight of her crumpled form. Sally Jackson straightened herself and raised her head a little higher.

"Come on Percy." Her words confident and bold.

"Mummy?"

"I said come." And he had no choice but to follow her.

After half an hour of constant fidgeting and squirming in the back of a taxi Percy finally plucked up the courage to ask his mother just where the hell they were going. She eyed her son for a moment and smiled, and Percy swore he could feel her smile soothing him gently. For that was Sally Jackson. She didn't even have to touch him for him to feel her love.

"To a better future." She said quietly. For the rest of the journey Percy didn't squirm one bit.

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><p>One long plane journey and another taxi ride later found the mother and son standing outside the door of a modern apartment with the number 27 in bright gold. Sally stood with the her suitcase grasped tightly in her left fist, a key grasped even tighter in her right fist, and her heart full of dreams. Despite the confidence she had shown earlier, familiar doubts began creeping in to her mind gaining residence there like evil manifestations. Perhaps the little boy beside her knew this for he gently held her tightly fisted hand, squeezed the key out of her grasp and unlocked the front door. She looked at him and he gave her a reassuring smile for even though he had no idea what she had planned, she had planned it for the both of them and for him that was enough. Together the two of them stepped over the threshold.<p>

The apartment immediately felt like home to the both of them. Maybe it was due to the lack of Gabe's presence but they both felt that much calmer when they explored the rooms. It wasn't overly stunning or amazing owing to Sally's bank balance however it oozed comfort and welcomed them as they dropped their luggage and Sally shut the door.

"Well? What do you think?" Her question gently arrived to her son's ears and when he turned to look at her, his eyes brimming with joy she heard his answer just by looking at him. It was a two bedroom apartment, neither room extremely big but still enough for the both of them. Percy's room he noticed was a light blue in accordance to his favourite colour. It seemed that most of the furniture had already been left there by the previous tenants that had already moved out, which was lucky for them as they didn't have to buy much now. Wheeling his suitcase into his room he shut the door and changed quietly. He marvelled at the euphoria of having his own room. 7 year old euphoria was powerful indeed. Not having to share with a drunk abuser was a major part of the satisfaction he was feeling but for another it was the idea of having privacy and unrestricted freedom that made him feel giddy.

When he came back out he found his mother sitting on the brown sofa in the main room with her eyes closed. It was one of the first times in his life that he had ever seen her look so peaceful. He sat beside her and she put her arm around him for comfort.

"Listen honey." She looked at him with eyes full of love and he gave her his undivided attention. "This can be a fresh start for both of us. You can make new friends here and I can work on my novel and we can start our new life here without Gabe." Her words brought comfort to his heart and he nodded in agreement. He couldn't explain the elation he felt. It rendered him speechless and made his tiny little heart burst with happiness. He felt as though he was now in a bubble of joy that would only climb higher. It took exactly seven years for that bubble to burst. And when it did boy did he have a long way to fall.

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><p><strong>Hi there, this is the first time I have tried a story like this and it had been playing in my mind for quite a while now so please review and tell me what you think of it. There's a lot left to come and hopefully you all like it.<strong>

**Oakleaf Girl.**


	2. Settling in

Settling in

Life at his new home was beginning to take on a constant pattern which was fine by Percy, after so many years of inconsistency he ached for a predictable lifestyle. He woke up haphazardly from his new bed in his new room and smiled sleepily, glad that the move wasn't a figment of his extraordinary imagination. He walked into the joint kitchen and living room to find the sight of his mother adding blue food colouring to his pancakes. If possible his smile got broader. Another perk to living without Gabe was that he could finally eat to his hearts content as at the moment his wiry frame was malnourished from the lack of food his step father allowed him. His face was a little too skinny to be defined as healthy and his limbs looked bony and stick like.

"Good morning mummy." He said while pouring a dangerous amount of syrup on to his food.

"Good morning honey" She smiled tenderly. She sat down beside him and the both of them began to tuck in. "Listen I've enrolled you to the local school here from this Monday so you can catch up on your work." Percy accepted this piece of news with a loud groan.

"Do I have to go? I don't know anyone there it will be horrible." He said dramatically. His mother opened her mouth most likely to admonish him for his attitude when the loud ring of their doorbell interrupted her. Percy seeking his chance to escape from his mother's lecture immediately turned to open the door.

When he did open it he found himself face to face with yellow hair, silver eyes and a cheerful smile.

"Hi I heard there were new people moving in here? I'm your neighbour I live in number 28 just next to your door and my mummy made some pie as a welcome to the neighbourhood I'm Annabeth Chase who are you?" She smiled at him, a pure confident smile that resonated her fearless attitude. Percy simply stared at her, there was no other word for it. She pushed past him and walked comfortably into his home and placed the dish on their kitchen table.

"Oh hello." Sally smiled warmly at the young girl.

"Hi my name is Annabeth Chase I'm your neighbour and my mummy made you some food by the way your son doesn't talk much is there any reason why?" She said all this in one breath managing to stun Sally as well as her son.

"Oh erm thanks for the food Annabeth that's very sweet of you and I'm sure Percy is fine he may be a little shy." She replied.

"Oh all right then so I guess you want me to show him around?" Annabeth asked promptly. Sally decided she was liking her more and more. Percy who had come back from the door stared at her still speechless by her boldness.

"That would be lovely Annabeth thank you I have some shopping to get done and it would be nice to know someone was looking after him." Sally saw the girl bounce with joy and grab Percy's arm. Percy to put it mildly was alarmed. How could his mother cast him off so easily to a girl who was clearly a lunatic? He didn't really have much time for objection as less than a minute later he was dragged out of the door by a girl with yellow curly hair that bounced up and down.

"Come on we're running late we have to meet the others at the oval" She said, not one word making sense to Percy as he ran to keep up with her.

"What's the oval?" His confusion evident in his voice. She stopped running so quickly Percy flew past her before he came to stop in front of her. She stood hands on hips.

"Of course I forgot you don't know the area. Well the oval is our hangout it's just in front of our block and all the kids meet up their to carry out the tradition." She continued walking seeming in less of a hurry now that her thoughts were preoccupied with something else.

"What's the tradition?" Percy asked.

"Tag of course." Something about the tone of her voice implied _'What else would we play?'_

"Of course." Percy replied. Something about his sarcastic tone implied _'How could I be so stupid.' _The girl noticed and she smiled at him.

"There may be hope for you yet." And with a small smile that confused Percy once more she ran off, leaving him to chase after her.

Percy noticed an assortment of children once having arrived at the oval. The oval was essentially first and foremost a play ground. In that playground was a handful of characters that would later become close friends and acquaintances of his. One such character was a tall girl with a fierce looking face and spiky midnight hair. She smiled when she saw his companion and when she turned to face him her eyes pierced through him like an x ray.

"Thalia meet Percy, he's the new boy here and I'm showing him around." Annabeth introduced him and he nodded at her shyly. Another shorter boy introduced himself as Grover and shook his hand rather formally but still polite. He had bright orange coloured hair.

After meeting all the kids on the oval Thalia clapped her hands decisively and went about the usual business of deciding who was the tagger today.

"I know." Her eyes glinted mischievously (the only sign Percy needed to see to surely tell something was about to kick off) "Why don't we have Percy as the tagger since he's the new kid?" The statement was asked as a question but no body was stupid enough to argue. Percy accepted his sentence philosophically. Clearly this Thalia girl was trying to test his worth and he was determined that he should prove it magnificently. Well he was as determined as a seven year old could be.

"Great let's start, Percy you have to count to 40 to give us a head start." And when she smiled he could see the light glint off her razor sharp teeth.

Everyone rushed around the oval distancing themselves from the fateful boy who had been deemed tagger. After 40 seconds the real show down began.

The rush of childish breath filled the play ground as feet scuffled and kids dodged. Even though Percy had skinny legs he could use them well to his advantage. Years of running and dodging away from Gabe and childhood bullies had taught him well and soon he had tagged majority of the kids playing.

The only person left untagged obviously had to be none other than Annabeth Chase. She weaved through the taggers like human water and ran with surprising speed. Her body seemed to consist of 80% legs.

"Percy you want to do this carefully." Grover warned. "She's a smart girl, going for her the obvious way won't work you have to think of something clever." The other taggers looked to him for a signal and Percy thought of something.

"I want to do this one on one, no other taggers involved this is the real test." Percy said seriously. He meant business. Thalia shook her head as though he had declared suicide which in a way he had. No one could catch Annabeth even when they _were _working in a team. How the hell was Percy supposed to do this on his own?

"Percy you do know that you won't be able to win right?" Grover weaselled his voice into Percy's head and made him doubt himself. The other kids nodded their heads emphatically. One boy echoed all their thoughts and said it out loud.

"Annabeth's crazy no one has been able to catch her, there's a reason why we call her the loose devil." Each new piece of information was drilling through his resolve but he remained adamant. He was _not_ going to let that crazy lunatic neighbour of his go even if it was the last thing he did. And from the sound of it, it probably was the last thing he was going to do.

"No, no let him have a go guys." Annabeth called from across the grounds. Her voice reached all of them like a friendly breath of fresh air and in spite of themselves they couldn't help relax. When she smiled at Percy, like Thalia she seemed to be all teeth. And her smile contained one emotion in abundance: cockiness. And she had good reason after all no one had been able to tag her in months, there was no way that scrawny little boy could be a match for her. The new boy was determined to wipe that smile off her face some way or another.

Percy replayed Grover's words in his mind and decided to do exactly the opposite. If Annabeth was a smart girl then surely she would be expecting Percy to make a smart move? But if he did something incredibly simple she was bound not to see it coming.

Annabeth came tantalisingly closer now, her liquid silver eyes bursting with excitement. Clearly this was as momentous for her as it was for him. Percy did the only thing he knew how and lunged at her spectacularly. She dove to the side but miraculously he had managed to touch her elbow. He lay face down in the grass and when he stood up silence and shocked faces greeted him. Not a second had passed until he was once again laying face down on the ground roughly. Spewing grass from his mouth he sat up to find Annabeth Chase grinning like a maniac at him.

"That's payback." Then she ran off to join her friends who were beginning to celebrate her defeat finally.

"That moron." He whispered vehemently as he stood up. Surely this was just a prelude to a glorious friendship.

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><p><strong>Hey guys so I introduced Annabeth in pretty quickly and don't worry her character isn't totally OOC she's still a genius she just has a little wild streak in her which is in the percy jackson books as well. Anyways please review lots and tell me what you think.<strong>

**Oakleaf Girl. **


	3. Learning to Read

Learning to Read

Frosty cold water drenched his upper body bringing him to consciousness in a brutal fashion. His heart rate jumped erratically and shock registered his face first before he saw his mother wearing a stern expression and a bucket in hand.

"What was that for?" He shrieked in protest. Before he could process any more a care free laugh made its way forward. He frowned in reply. His mother never sounded like that when she laughed. And lo and behold it turned out there was a young girl behind Sally Jackson and that girl happened to be none other than Miss Annabeth Chase. His frown of irritation was becoming permanently etched on to his face. The last thing he needed was another meeting with _her_ again. He still hadn't forgotten her recent act of jealousy in which she shoved him into the wet hard ground. He didn't want any more to do with her and her crazy ways.

"You young man are in big trouble, you are already late to school." Her words were hurled at him, they shook him and made him get out of bed immediately. Still clad in his pyjamas he asked the only question he could think of.

"Why is she here?" There was a detectable hint of rudeness in his tone and his mother raised her eyebrows.

"This young girl is taking you to school despite the fact that you are twenty minutes late, I suggest you quit with the rudeness get changed and thank this kind young lady for volunteering to help you." Sally then walked out of his bedroom, her footsteps echoing a finality that her voice had already enforced. This left Percy and his neighbour in quite an awkward position.

"I need to get changed…" The short, skinny boy started awkwardly. For reasons unknown to him the tall, athletic girl appraised him for a moment before abruptly leaving his room without a word. There was nothing else he could say. That girl was definitely weird.

Managing to change in set record time with the threat of a detention looming above him, the new boy made it out of his apartment with half a slice of toast dangling from his mouth and a chatterbox on his right side.

"So why did you sleep in so late?" Curiosity dripped from her voice.

"I didn't mean to I have no control over how long I sleep." Percy complained. This girl seemed to ask meaningless questions.

"Oh I get it so you're a lazy slob." She stated bluntly. He frowned in confusion. What the hell did slob mean?

"And you're a nosy know it all." He flung back. Their verbal arguments racketed back and forth between each other. Both children insulted each other with enough propelled rudeness for it to border from teasing to genuinely insulting. But neither child took offence. Percy was used to this treatment from his step father and so was unperturbed by his neighbour's teases. Annabeth for her part was looking for approximately three years to find someone who shared her well loved hobby of endless insulting. She may have just finally found her partner.

Their endless banter had lasted most of the journey through until they reached the school. The last part of it was spent with Annabeth explaining the key landmarks and features of the route to school to her neighbour so he would recognise it from now on.

"That's the corner candy shop where they sell the best types of sweets and chocolates available but I'm warning you now the prices are really high so you would have to spend a lot." She pointed down the side road where there was a broken alley way.

"That's where all the naughty kids go after school to steal things and get up to no good and far down the road there's a church so you can use these as things to guide you if you get lost, not that you will. I'll be guiding you every step of the way." She said confidently. Percy was secretly glad his neighbour wasn't planning on ditching him any time soon, he didn't think he fully remembered all the landmarks to their school yet. He decided to thank her once and only once for helping him get to school.

"Thank you for guiding me today." The boy said humbly. His words were quiet and sincere but that didn't mean he would make it a habit of his to thank her.

"I didn't really have a choice. Grover told mummy about how I pushed you at the oval so she forced me to help you today not that I mind though." Her words dispelled any idea in his mind that she was doing this out of the goodness of her heart. This was actually a little unfair to Annabeth for she most probably would have guided him to school anyway even if her mother hadn't threatened her. Her next words certainly didn't help her climb back into Percy's good books.

"It was my idea to throw a bucket of water on you, you know." She added noncommittally.

"Of course it was." He sighed. Somehow though his tone was disparaging and he wasn't surprised, a ghost of a smile made its way onto his face. Neither of them knew it yet but both of them had the perfect qualities to become each others best friend.

LINE BREAK

The two late children rushed into school their breaths laboured, their feet aching as they reached the front office. Without looking up from her magazine the receptionist muttered.

"You're late." Both children looked at each other. Before Annabeth could open her mouth to lie profusely on the reasons of their unpunctuality the lady looked up from her entertainment magazine and having spotted the young girl, narrowed her eyes behind her thick rimmed glasses.

"Oh not you again Chase." The woman muttered darkly. Why she had to put up with that girl was beyond her.

Despite being smarter than most of her year that came with the added price of the constant childish bullying she had to endure, consequently forcing the little seven year old girl to have to resort to physical means to get her tormentors to shut up. Unfortunately that resulted in her landing at the receptionist waiting area until the principal came down to punish her. The waiting area may as well have been her second home.

Annabeth had the decency to look slightly ashamed though it was marred somewhat by her bashful grin. Next the receptionists eyes swivelled to face the newcomer beside the troublemaker, pursing her lips she went about her usual business.

"Name?" She asked rudely. Before Percy could open his mouth Annabeth answered for him.

"His name is Percy Jackson he's a new student here." She said. The receptionist eyed her once again without amusement.

"Did I ask you or did I ask him? Go off to your class room now." She bossed furiously. The blonde haired girl knew better than to argue and therefore after a small wave at the boy beside her proceeded to go to her class which she knew Percy would be placed in since they were the same age. The receptionist muttered more words Percy couldn't hear but he was sure that none of them were pleasant. He made a mental note not to get on her bad side.

"Age?" The woman now turned to her desktop tapping with furious passion on the keyboard. Her hot pink nail varnish was incredibly distracting.

"Er seven." He answered. Percy heard the click of her mouse as she accessed school files.

"Ok then let's see you are in Grade 2 classroom C the teacher has already been notified of your arrival." She went back to reading her magazine and the young boy took himself to be dismissed.

Walking cautiously the boy wandered around the school hoping to find the correct class room. After numerous minutes which involved accidentally walking into the canteen three times he finally made it outside a blue door with a weary C written in capital black. He knocked on it twice, nerves gripping him.

"Come in." The sound of a young woman called. He hesitantly pushed the door open to find a big spacious class room. As he looked around he noticed blonde hair a smile full of teeth and a wave. He waved shyly back. Annabeth grinned at him.

"Hi I'm Percy." His words landed gently in her ear. The teacher smiled warmly when she saw him.

"Hello Percy my name is Mrs Bird and I'll be your teacher from now on this is the rest of the class. Everyone make sure Percy feels at home." She said warningly though everyone could hear the friendliness shine through.

"Right who will help him around his first day at school?" She asked the kids. Annabeth accidentally shoved the young brunette behind her in her haste to raise her hand.

"I'll do it Mrs Bird I already know him we're neighbours." She said triumphantly. Obviously in Annabeth's mind this gave Percy and her a special connection which only guaranteed that she should be made his guide. She glared at everyone else to see who would dare to contradict her. No one did. They were too busy going back to chattering loudly with one another.

"Well that's very kind of you Annabeth and it does make sense since you both already know each other." Mrs Bird smiled at the young girl. She now turned to the new student who had tapping feet, jittery hands and flickering eyes. Undoubtedly the new boy was anxious. His previous experiences of school (if you could call them experiences, they never lasted long) were nothing short of full blown mayhem. Therefore it was only natural that Percy was wondering just how long it was going to take before some problem or other eventually made itself known. The answer to that question was soon. Very soon.

Once Percy had been seated next to his grey eyed neighbour she swivelled in her chair and began a non stop flow of chatter which kept him occupied quite nicely.

"This is so cool we're next door neighbours and school neighbours I've never had someone actually sit next to me before the other kids think I'm nuts but I'm not sure why…" She rambled on excitedly and Percy couldn't help notice given his proximity to her how her silver eyes could turn stormy grey within minutes, swirling like an incessant storm. They intimidated him and analysed him. They frightened him but excited him at the same time. Eyes should never be that expressive Percy thought idly.

"What do you do in class then?" Percy asked nervously. The other children looked busy creating a model of some sort.

"Vlacas! Of course you don't know I keep forgetting you're new here." Annabeth chided herself.

"Er Vlacas?" Percy asked questioningly wondering whether he had forgotten the fundamental basics of the English language or whether that was genuinely not English.

"Yes? What did you do? Did you do something stupid as well?" Annabeth asked eagerly. Sometimes, no scratch that most of the time that girl made absolutely no sense to him.

"No I was asking what it meant it doesn't sound English."

"Oh Vlacas! I did it again."

"Would you stop saying Vlacas?"

"Vlacas"

"I swear to God Chase…"

LINE BREAK

There was a problem. Within five minutes it made itself known. Percy, for want of better term couldn't exactly read properly and he certainly couldn't write. He found that the letters jumbled up in his brain, swimming in his confusion like schools of fish they tangled and untangled again just to tease him and similar letters such as d and b laughed in his face like evil twins. The teachers found this out soon enough when the children were forced to write something for work.

While Annabeth ploughed excitedly on, clearly excelling above her peers, Percy couldn't be put in the same category.

"What's wrong? Are you stuck on what to write?" An eager voice squeezed its way through forcing him to listen to her. She looked at him critically and he once again got the sensation that he was being dissected which was strange. A seven year old shouldn't make you feel that way.

"No I'm not stuck." Percy muttered quietly. Truth be told he was slightly ashamed and more than a little embarrassed. From his previous schools he was kicked out due to 'rowdy behaviour' and 'continual fights' so it said on his reports. Teachers never got round to even setting Percy home work before he got expelled which in some ways explained why his family still didn't know he had dyslexia. He felt stupid and he wasn't in any mood to watch his neighbour whizz by while he stayed stuck on the first hurdle.

"Well then hurry up and work you moron or else she won't let us go to recess." Her pen flew across the page as she scribbled more confusion onto her page.

By the end of the lesson with five minutes to go until recess the children in class room C had written copious amounts for children and their hands and brains were tired. Mrs Bird flitted across the classroom eyeing everyone's work finding it all to be satisfactory. All except one.

She landed in front of his desk and her eyes searched his face as he looked away, staring out of the window.

"Where is your work?" The voice was soft but the tone was loud. He chose not to answer. He would let the teacher think what she want it wasn't going to be long until he got kicked out of this place too.

"Right you know the rules children, no work no recess you will all wait as a class for an extra ten minutes until Percy here can write something down to give to me." The children groaned and sent mutinous glares at the young black haired boy. Percy glared at her. She could have punished him on his own why did she have to drag the whole class down with him as well.

The only person that didn't shoot bolts at him was Annabeth who seemed relatively calm despite the punishment. When he turned to ask her a question she smiled at him mischievously and snatched the paper from his desk. Before he could ask her what she was doing her hand was writing of its own accord, quick and messy letters appeared on the page. Within half a minute she replaced the paper on his desk and raised her hand.

"Mrs Bird Percy's finished now can we go to recess?" The teacher eyed the two children warily and read the words on the page. The words that were still a mystery to him.

"This is good Percy now why couldn't you do this before?" She asked now kindly. Percy didn't know what to say so he simply shrugged. She deemed that as an acceptable answer. "Ok kids you may now go to recess have fun."

Everyone barged and jostled each other to get to the play ground until the emerald eyed boy was the last to leave the door.


End file.
